I think it's somewhat appropriate to lump these episodes together, because you could consider them the core of the show. Comedy, backstories, chilling betrayal, excessive hemorrhaging. A small arc, of sorts, for Jayne. Learning, in the first case, that his actions can have unintended positive consequences, and, in the second case, that they can also have unintended negative ones. Maybe there's something to this loyality thing after all?
And in the comic: I really liked how it all wrapped up. Or, rather, I really liked the fight in the wrecked ship. I guess the return of Dobson was something planned for the show, but I still don't buy it. The only downfall the comic has, really, is that it reads like only the first act of an episode; and I don't mean that it serves only as a prequel to the movie. The movie connections are pretty slight.
One interesting thing, though. An Alliance higher-up, talking about a couple of the blue hand guys who came to a bad end: "Our independant contracters have. . . disappeared." Suggesting that they aren't government agents at all.
Registered: Mar 1999
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I think that's the shared assumption now; I mean, we know for a fact that Blue Sun was heading for a major role in the plot. But, as far as the show as aired goes, Blue Sun wasn't present beyond the occasional advertisement or corporate logo, and nothing at all is ever said about those men, beyond the facts that A.) they have authority of some sort and B.) are mean. But the idea that they were private agents, instead of public ones, isn't, I don't think, derivable from the show, which never got the chance to get into their origin or purpose. (Beyond retrieving River, of course.)
Registered: Mar 1999
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Actually, they're not gloves. Theyre body suits with blue gloves on the end of the sleeves. There's one frame in the comic where one of the guys gets hit and his shirt rips open. You can see the blue suit underneath with knobs or nipples or something on it.
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I really liked the Blue Hand Group, too... they were creepy without overdoing the horror genre too much, plus their limited appearances didn't overdo things. *cough*BORG*cough* I just wish we'd gotten a bit more information about who they were and just who they were working for...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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This is as far as I've gotten, since I managed to get the box set cheaply enough.
I don't like the Blue Hand Gang. It's far too X-Files, goivernment-conspiracy stuff (and, just like the X-Files, they don't actually seem to be government at all). And the way they just stomp around killing everyone in the most messily noticeable way possible.
(this is probably all old news to you, since youi've all seen the film and I haven't)
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If you want a spoiler about the Blue Hands from the comic, read below. They don't show up again in the series, anyway.
$$$$$$$$$$$$
The Blue Hands are independant contractors hired by the Alliance to track River down. They die in the comic series thus paving the way for The Operative to get on th job in the movie. And their hands are not actually blue. The men are wearing full body suits under their MIB outfits which end in blue gloves.
(Which, upon re-reading this thread, I see was all covered already...)
Yeah I almost think it's more interesting if they are just gloves. If I'm honest, the body suit thing from the comic kind of disappointed me. As did the idea that there were only two of them. As did the idea that they weren't actually part of some mega-super conglomerate/government agency. Me likey conspiracy.
/$$$$
So I've mulled it over and I think that "Out Of Gas" is my favorite Firefly episode. "Our Mrs. Reynolds" is written/acted to within an inch of its life and "Objects In Space" is obliquely profound yet still funny, but "Out of Gas" gets me every time. When Mal asks "Y'all gonna be here when I wake up?". Every time.
Registered: Sep 2000
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Speaking of them, I get a very blue-handed vibe off those two guys watching the security monitors at the facility in the beginning of Serenity.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Ariel is the clear favourite for me, I guess I'm just a sucker for heist movies. Plus it was nice to see that there are ray guns in the future and they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Out of Gas is a close second, mainly for the scene when you see how Jayne was recruited. "Tell us where you hid the stuff, so's we can shoot ya!"
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